Bands of heavy rain from Isaias lashed Florida’s east coast on Sunday while officials dealing with surging cases of coronavirus kept a close watch on the weakened tropical storm, the Associated Press reports.
Isaias was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm Saturday afternoon, but was still expected to bring heavy rain and flooding as it crawled just off Florida’s Atlantic coast.
“Don’t be fooled by the downgrade,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis warned at a news conference after the storm spent hours roughing up the Bahamas.
“It’s a tale of two storms,” said Stacy Stewart, senior hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami on Sunday.
“If you live on the west side of the storm, you didn’t get much. If you live east of the storm, there’s a lot of nasty weather there.”
Florida is on the west side of Isaias.
Authorities closed beaches, parks and virus testing sites, lashing signs to palm trees so they wouldn’t blow away.
DeSantis said the state is anticipating power outages and asked residents to have a week’s supply of water, food and medicine on hand.
Officials wrestled with how to prepare shelters where people can seek refuge from the storm if necessary, while also safely social distancing to prevent the spread of the virus.
Isaias put another burden on communities already hit by other storms and sickness.
In Palm Beach County, about 150 people were in shelters, said emergency management spokeswoman Lisa De La Rionda, adding that the evacuees are physically distant from each other and wearing masks, due to the virus.
In Indian River County, north of West Palm Beach, Florida, emergency shelters were clearing out Sunday after Isaias was downgraded to a tropical storm.
Officials told TCPalm newspapers that 38 people registered at three schools used as shelters.
Those areas now must be cleaned to ensure no traces of the coronavirus remain as teachers and staff report Monday to prepare for the upcoming school year.
No one checked in with Covid-19 symptoms.
Temperature checks were done at the door, officials said, and isolation rooms were designated in case anyone came in with symptoms.
